


The Kidnapping Game

by CandescentKlance



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alvin honestly just needs to give up but that ain't happening here, And a Hug, Astrid is just downright badass, Fishlegs becomes moral support, Gen, Generous amount of cliffhangers here, Hiccup angst, Hiccup has too much sarcasm in this, Hiccup is kidnapped, Hiccup needs a break, Injured Hiccup, Ivor is a piece of work, Lots of explosions, Slightly bent Canon - Alvin is still evil AU, Snotlout cares more about his cousin than he lets on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-04-21 03:03:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14275533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandescentKlance/pseuds/CandescentKlance
Summary: It's a repeated mess.Alvin kidnaps, Hiccup escapes, Outcasts lose once again. When does a large, stubborn viking with an obsession learn to stop?Apparently never as Hiccup finds himself, yet again, in an Outcast prison.Oh, and Alvin's timing never seems to be at the best date.(Or: I suck at summaries and I apologize because this is my first written fanfic)





	1. Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Back in year 6 of primary school, I wrote this to pass the time because we usually had 'free writing time'. And then last year as I was entering year 9, I found this and decided to rewrite it and improve it. And Holy Hades has my writing improved, god help my past teachers.
> 
> I wrote about half of it and was uploading each chapter on Wattpad until I got writers block, and because I couldn't shake that, I decided 'ya know what? Let's take a break', and then that break just turned into a full year. Now a year later I've gone through it again and fixed a ton, and now here we are. I really hope you enjoy it because it's my first published fanfic and anyone with anxiety can understand why I'd be unnecessarily nervous lol
> 
> If you wanna catch me on another site;
> 
> Tumblr: http://particlesofanxiety.tumblr.com/
> 
> Instagram: @Koganekstyx
> 
> Wattpad (More so used for reading and rp): Shelba2002

Something was off.

      The sunlight pierced through the open windows, reflecting off of any shiny object in the room. The warmth of the rising sun drifted in, but it was quickly followed by the bite of the winter breeze.

      Something was off.

      The uneasy feeling that something was wrong, different, settled in her gut as she woke up. There was nothing to confirm the feeling. As soon as her eyes had opened, an unpleasant worry just dropped like lead and it was unshakeable.

      Usually Astrid trusted her gut, but this morning she found no reason to feel this way. Nothing was out of place, she could hear the cheery voices of her parents downstairs, and the daily routine sound of the village going about their morning was the same as every other day.

      So why did she feel like this?

      Doing her utmost best to ignore it, she dragged herself out of bed and pulled on her woollen winter coat on before heading downstairs. She had a quick breakfast with the eagerness to get outside, something more important on her mind. It was a special day and she wasn’t going to let an untrustworthy feeling take control for one second.

      Snow covered everything, literally. A chicken hopped by wearing a mane of snow on top of its head. Few footsteps tracked through the snow as it was only the start of the day. New layers of snow had fallen overnight, adding to make it thicker.

      Astrid shivered as she circled around the house to Stormfly’s little sleeping quarters. Stormfly squawked with the joy of seeing her rider and nudged Astrid’s shoulder expectantly, a hint of hunger in her eyes. She tossed the chicken up high above her head, the dragon snatching it up and downing it in one go. Astrid scratched her neck lightly before heading off to Gobber’s workshop.

      The village was alive with the sound of Vikings talking, children playing in the snow covered plaza and wheelbarrows being rolled over the bumpy stone trails that had been cleared of snow. No matter the time of day, nothing would be completely quiet. It was either the women working in the market place, children wreaking havoc by chasing sheep or Terrible Terrors, or the men drinking and having a celebration for any reason they could find in the Great Hall as the sun goes down. Berk was never a calm and serene place, always boisterous.

      The sound of off-key singing brought Astrid back to attention as she approached the Blacksmith Workshop. Gobber’s high-spirited singing was something you couldn’t miss, even over the chorus of the village. Astrid smiled as she leaned against the open window, folding her arms as she peered inside, not yet grabbing Gobber’s attention. There was no sign of Hiccup, which was odd. Usually when the riders took a break from Dragons Edge, Hiccup would still be up at the crack of dawn looking for something to do, and you’d usually find him helping out Gobber.

      “Hey, Gobber,” Astrid said loudly over the volume of his singing. The Blacksmith jumped with a startled yelp, turning to face the young Viking. “You don’t sneak up on an armed Viking, girly.” He held up his interchangeable hand, which currently held a recently sharpened sword.

      Astrid raised her hands with an amused smile, “sorry. Have you seen Hiccup? It’s not like him to not be here.”

      Gobber shook his head with a questioning look, “haven’t seen him all morning. But last I checked he was getting a lecture from Stoick last night. Pretty sure I saw steam coming off both their heads when I saw Hiccup leave the house.” He shrugged and turned back to his work table, smoothly switching his hand to a hammer and hitting down on a dented piece of Gronkle Iron.

      “What did he do this time?” Astrid asked, her brows furrowing.

      “Not sure, something about him being future Chief I think,” he replied over his shoulder.

      Astrid nodded to herself, “okay. Thanks, Gobber.” She pushed off from the window and stepped back, glancing around the village as Gobber resumed his terribly spirit-lifting song. Maybe she should visit the house? That uneasiness was crawling its way back up into her mind, but she shoved it down as she knocked on the hard wood door of the Haddock house, her eyes trailing over the intricate patterns carved into it until it swung open.

      The large sturdy figure of Stoick stood there with a warm smile at the sight of Astrid, and she returned the smile, “hey, Chief, got a second?”

      “Of course,” he stepped back and opened the door wider to allow her to go inside. “Thank you,” she followed him inside, thankful to be out of the cold.

      “What brings you here?” Stoick closed the door with a thud, cutting off the needle-like breeze and sat down by the fireplace, gesturing for her to sit down too. She sat down and reached her hands over the flames as Stoick stoked it, shuffling around the glowing coals and stirring up the ashes. “I was wondering where Hiccup was? No one has seen him since last night at the Dragon Riders meeting, and Gobber mentioned an argument between you two, not that it’s any of my business. I’m just a little worried,” She said slowly.

      Stoick took a few seconds to respond, like he was considering his words. “We _did_ have a bit of a dispute last night. He’s as stubborn as I was when I was his age. He took off, said something about clearing his head and didn’t come back all night. Still haven’t seen him or his dragon.” His voice took on that concerned parent tone, and Astrid frowned but she did her best to assure him that he’d be okay.

      “He’s probably just headed back to Dragons Edge early to think things over, you know how he is. When he’s upset he’ll find any excuse to distract himself and get out of the situation. He’ll be okay. We’ll check on him soon, just give him time.” She stood up and walked back over to the door, letting in the wind again and sending goose bumps down her limbs.

      Stoick nodded, “thank you, Astrid.”

 

* * *

 

     

       She found Snotlout and Fishlegs with their dragons in the Training Arena, but they were unnaturally quiet. Fishlegs was scratching Meatlugs stomach as the hefty dragon drowsily groaned in contentment, her tongue hanging down the side of her mouth. Snotlout however, instead of arguing with Fishlegs or making fun of him somehow, was sitting in dead silence with a sullen look on his face, his arms folded across his chest. His skin was blackened by smoke and something told Astrid that Hookfang, lying a couple feet away sleeping, not a care in the world that his rider was upset, had something kind of responsibility for this.

       Astrid strolled over to Fishlegs with her eyebrows raised curiously, not even trying to keep her voice low as she said “what’s up with Mr. Grumpy? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a time where he hasn’t talked…” Fishlegs quickly hushed her, his voice in a low whisper, “I am taking every advantage of this moment. Do not ruin it.”

      “Pig-headed dragon stole my breakfast.” Snotlout snapped as he easily overheard them, jabbing a thumb at said snoozing dragon. And with those words, all peace and tranquility was killed.

      Fishlegs rolled his eyes, “aaand he’s talking again. Yippee…”

      Astrid smirked and changed the topic with a sigh. “Have you guys seen Hiccup? No one has seen him since last night.”

      Both riders shrugged and shook their heads, adding to Astrid’s worry. “Okay, well you guys are gonna help me figure that out.”

      She paused, glancing around with her hands on her hips, “and the Twins. Where are the Twins?”

 

* * *

      

      “Get back here, Shirley!”

      “Tuffnut, wait up!” Ruffnut raced after her other half, avoiding the many hanging branches and obstacles of bushes. A sheep ran at full speed ahead as the Troublemakers pursued it, and it made the quick decision to dive into a hollow log just big enough to fit. Running too fast to stop, both of the Twins went crashing into the log and went flipping over it, one landing on the other.

      “What are you two Mutton-heads doing?” Astrid sighed as she, Fishlegs and a still sulking Snotlout approached them.

      “Catching sheep. We’re testing the sheep launcher. Human trials start tomorrow… care to volunteer?” Tuffnut offered, brushing off the dirt and snow from his clothes.

     “No thanks, I’d like to keep my feet on the ground and my stomach inside me. And, you called your sheep _Shirley_?,” Fishlegs replied. Ruffnut raised an eyebrow, “says the one who _rides a dragon_?"

      Tuffnut crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes, "and yes, Shirley is great name, _Fish-Legs_."

      “Never mind that. I don’t suppose you two have seen Hiccup?” Astrid cut in.

      “Nope,” was both their answer and Astrid wasn’t surprised anyway.

       “Okay… I told Stoick that he’s probably just gone back to Dragons Edge early, I don’t want to worry him.” Astrid sighed, leaning back against the tree behind her with her arms crossed.

      “On his _birthday_? Who would take off on their birthday when you could bathe in _gifts_?” Tuffnut asked disbelievingly.

      “That’s not the point, Tuffnut,” Fishlegs cut in, giving him a disapproving look. “Birthday or not, we need to find him and make sure he’s alright before his dad starts sending search parties.”

      Astrid gave him a small nod of thanks before turning back to the Twins. “Exactly. Now leave that poor defenceless sheep alone and help us find him. We’re searching the island before we actually consider Dragons Edge because I don’t think he’d actually go that far today.”

      “We should split up, cover more ground. Astrid take the woods and the cove, Snotlout go through the village. Ruff, Tuff, you guys check the hills. I’ll take the beach,” Fishlegs said. Everyone stared at him in surprise, not expecting him to take charge like that.

      “Well… Look who grew some rocks. About time-“ Snotlout smirked, speaking for the first time in minutes. Another record for him. Until Astrid elbowed him in the gut and shut him up before he could say more. Fishlegs smiled at her appreciatively. Astrid just shrugged with a smug smile, happy to take any reason to punch him.

      “If you find something, use your dragon calls. Once you’ve found something head to the Great Hall,” Astrid ordered, and everyone split up.

      She didn’t miss the way the off feeling crept back slowly.

 

* * *

 

      Snotlout wandered through the village, kicking his shoes into the snow and causing it to spray over whatever was ahead. At one point he accidentally hit Silent Sven, which drew an incredibly long, wordless lecture (which seemed more like a staring contest) from the Viking. He managed to create a small diversion by tempting a Terrible Terror into stealing Sven’s bread and ducking away onto a more secluded path.

      “This is stupid. Looking for Hiccup and his stupid dragon,” He muttered under his breath. He readies his foot to kick another pile of snow when something caught his eye.

      “Someone has big feet,” he snorted, kneeling down to examine some, indeed large, footprints in the snow, leading off to a different beach than the main one. The snowfall from last night had slightly filled them in but they were still pretty deep and clear in the daylight sun. Hookfang landed in the snow next to him and sniffed the tracks. They were about thrice the size of Snotlout’s. Snotlout glared at him, still miffed about the breakfast stealing fiasco this morning. “Go on then, roar!”

 

* * *

 

      Ruffnut dragged her feet down the slope of a hill, her twin brother’s eyes lighting up beside her with a probably bad idea.

      “Ruff! I’ve suddenly had a brilliant idea!”

      “Oh yeah? Do tell me,” Ruffnut replied encouragingly.

      Tuffnut smiled mischievously. “You know how Hiccup doesn’t like it when we mess around?”

      “No, I don’t really, we don’t pay attention to anything he says, but go on.”

      Tuffnut shrugged, “well, if we do that, maybe it will draw him out to tell us off?”

      “Yes, that’s genius!” Ruffnut praised and they started to wave their arms wildly and hop around like one-legged chickens. To them, this was a totally normal thing. To the outside eye though, you’d be making sure to avoid these two crazy people. After ten minutes, something caught Ruffnut’s eyes.

      “Hey, are those carriage tracks supposed to be there?”

       Tuffnut paused and spun around, something shiny resting in the palm of his hand, “no idea. What’s this shiny thing with the weird symbol?” He held it out to her.

      “That’s a shoulder pad, idiot.”

      Something in their brains clicked and they looked at each other, smiles growing on their faces. “Clues! Thorston and Thorston are on the case!"

      Barf and Belch were already calling before the Twins could tell them to.

 

* * *

 

      The beach, with its soft warm sand, clear blue sky and the deep blue waves crashing gently against the bottom of the cliffs, was irresistible at this time of the day for Fishlegs. Unfortunately, it was colder than Glacier Island and Fishlegs kept his distance from the edge of the cliff for fear of being blown off by the needle-like salty winds.

      Despite the cold, Fishlegs and Meatlug decided to climb to the cliff top to get a better view of the beach. They stood for a moment and watched the large calm body of water stretch out before them, the straight horizon splitting the deep abyss from the sky.

      “Isn’t it beautiful, Meatlug?” He spoke calmly, giving his dragon a stomach rub, her back leg jerking as if she were running. As he gazed out, a small fishing boat caught his eye. It was sailing out from Berk, past a group of sea stacks. At first Fishlegs thought nothing of it, saying “I didn’t know we had ships sailing out today? I thought we collected enough fish for the winter already…”

      Meatlug grumbled agreeably as Fishlegs fished out his binoculars and aimed at the boat which was growing smaller by the minute.

      Panic rose in his throat as he realized, “that’s not one of our ships! That’s the _Outcast_ symbol on the sail! Meatlug, the signal!”

 

* * *

 

       The woods are, as usual, lively. Flowing winter air, snow blanketing everything. Terrible Terrors played in the white slush like it was a pile of colourful leaves in the autumn time. Astrid had gotten Stormfly to come along to help find any reason for Hiccups absence before returning to the woods. She just hoped that she would find him relaxing in the cove, messing around with Toothless on the now frozen lake, looking happy and safe like nothing was wrong, and her worry would finally evaporate.

      She was so lost in thought with the worry of Hiccup and trying to figure out why she knew something was off that she almost walked straight past the quite obvious scorch marks as they passed her eyes.

      “Fire blast…” she muttered to herself, “but not just any fire blast.” The back of her throat dried as she realized. They were scorch marks from a Plasma blast. Toothless did this.

      Stormfly’s roar echoed over the trees, alerting all the riders that it was time to head back.

 

* * *

 

      Everyone met at a secluded wooden table in the corner of the Great Hall, out of earshot of nearby Vikings. Astrid glanced over her shoulder to the Chief’s dais, where Stoick stands when he calls for meetings and deals with issues. The Chief stood amongst a small group including Gobber, Silent Sven, and Spitelout talking in hushed tones.

      She turned back to the group, her voice low, “what did you guys find?”

      Tuffnut brought out the shoulder pad and set it in the middle of the table. “I don’t recognize that marking. Maybe it’s a new trend?” He chuckled quietly to himself as Ruffnut chirped in, but her tone was as if her piece of information wasn’t important. “I saw carriage tracks leading to the beach.”

      Astrid examined the piece of armour, her mind clicking to a quick, gut-wrenching conclusion. “Good work, both of you, but Tuff,” she sighed, staring at him with soft annoyance, “that’s the Outcast symbol.”

      “Ohhh…” The male twin said loudly, causing all of the teens to abruptly shut him up.

      “We don’t want anyone to know about this, dummy!” Astrid whispered warningly. She did a quick glance around to check no one had been alerted.

      “Speaking of possible Outcasts, Meatlug and I spotted a small fishing boat sailing away from Berk. And the sail had the Outcast symbol.” Fishlegs added nervously.

      Astrid’s eyes widened slightly more as she listened, her fingers tapping on the wooden table anxiously, but before she could reply, Snotlout added his findings. “Me and a dragon that I shall not name for a certain breakfast-stealing reason found large footprints in the snow, if anyone cares,” he sat looking bored, leaning back in his chair as it rests on the two back legs.

      Astrid took a moment to think, putting together everything they found and connecting the dots. “Okay. We need to keep this quiet. If Alvin really does have Hiccup then we cannot tell anyone, _especially_   Stoick. If he found out then all chaos would break loose. Go home, get some rest, and meet back early tomorrow morning. We’re going to Outcast Island, but only for a scouting mission. I know it looks like it, but we don’t know for sure if they really do have Hiccup. If they have him and Toothless, then it becomes a rescue mission, so be prepared for that.”

 

* * *

 

      Hiccups eyes fluttered open to the sound of his own heartbeat echoing in his ears and a throbbing headache. He peered up at the ceiling through half opened eyes, quickly realizing that it wasn’t the roof he usually woke up to see every morning.

      He sat up quickly before bringing his hand to his head, wincing and blinking away the dark spots dancing in his line of vision. “Wh-what? Where… Oh no.” With a shiver down his spine, Hiccup realized where he was. He turned his head in the direction of incoming footsteps, staying still where he sat.

      “Ah, finally awake, eh? Took you all night. And day. Heavy sleeper, ain’t ya.” Alvin grinned, stepping into the limited light shining from the barred window behind Hiccup.

 _Yep_ , Hiccup thought bitterly, _still as irritable as always._

      “Alvin! How good to see you! Have you done something with your beard?” Hiccup replied, sarcasm oozing from his words.

      “Flattery won’t get you out of this one, boy.”

      “At least I tried,” Hiccup muttered. He glanced up out the window. For the small amount of land he could see, everything was coated in snow and the sunset had just started, streaking the sky with beautiful deep pink and orange hues across the darkening blue sky.

      He slipped back down away from the window and sat below it further away from Alvin. “So, what am I in for now? Wait, wait, let me guess,” he held up his index finger for emphasis, took a deep breath and spoke in his best impersonation of his captor, “’You’re here to train my dragons?’”

      “Never you mind, boy. All you need to know for now is that you’re not leaving.”

      “Gods, Alvin, don’t you ever learn? You kidnap, I make a plan, I escape, you lose as always,” Hiccup snapped.

      “Then I suppose you should get comfortable because I have a brand new plan, and whoever dares to rescue you will fail inevitably. I will win this time, especially with my new weapon.” The Outcast Chief began to walk away.

      “Wait, what new weapon. And where’s Toothless?” Hiccup asked, scrambling forward despite the pain in his head protesting against such movement.

      “All in good hands.” Alvin’s dark laugh lingered eerily even after he was gone.

      Hiccup sat back quietly, curling up to himself as the strong winter breeze blew through the window, snowflakes dancing in the air and settling down on the dusty, cold stone floor and in his hair.

     “Happy birthday to me…”


	2. Making Friends and Failure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone slap me in the face for my stupidity, I need to go to bed earlier. School has started for term 2 and I'm not ready to crawl back to hell.
> 
> On a happier note, here's chapter 2!

The morning was just as frosty and cold as yesterday, if not more today. Each teen was up at the crack of dawn, most of them taking their time to get out of bed. Each of them arrived at the academy wrapped in blankets looking dishevelled and already ready to crawl back into bed and call it a day. Hookfang had stomped into the arena with a snoring Snotlout on his back keeping him warm, and all Astrid had to do to wake him up was get Hookfang to heat up just a little too much. The Twins looked like they had pulled on their armour half asleep, nothing pulled on in the right place on their slouching bodies. Fishlegs and Astrid, however, were already in battle armour, wide awake and focused, and had arrived ten minutes earlier than the rest of them.

       Once everyone was more than less awake, they started checking their packs to make sure they were ready. “Everyone set to go? Remember that this is only a scouting mission. If it becomes a rescue mission then still don’t engage battle. We’ll need to come up with a plan.”

      At the word of battle, as if he’d heard nothing else Astrid had said, Snotlout came to life, no signs of fatigue visible and said, “I’ll fight them all to my last breath like an honourable Jorgenson!” He pressed his right hand balled in a fist on his chest.

      “No, you won’t! Do you want to get us all killed, Snotlout?” Fishlegs snapped in a low voice. He crossed his arms, glaring at him.

      Before Snotlout could snap back a reply, the intent of fishing for a fight gleaming in his eyes, Astrid cut in forcefully before things got out of hand, authoritative voice at full max. “Let’s go over the supplies, huh?” It was an order, not a suggestion. Snotlout reluctantly backed off, stomping back to his dragon. “Good,” Astrid sighed with a small eye roll, turning to her dragon’s saddle pouch.

      “Emergency food, check. Maps, check. Weapons and armour, check-“

      “-Snotlout’s brain... oh we’re missing that.” Ruffnut sniggered, she and her brother high-fiving out of sight of Astrid’s careful eye.

      “Hey! Leave my brain out of this!” Snotlout growled, slapping away Tuffnut’s hand descending towards his head.

      “I just wanted to pick at your brain, you know, see if you really have one,” Tuffnut shrugged disappointedly.

      “I have a brain _, mutton-head_.”

      “Now that we’ve established that, can we please _go_?” Astrid said. No one protested. “Good.”

      Each rider mounted their dragon. They lifted off from the ground and glided out the entrance of the academy, the sun blindingly rising quickly for the new day.

      By afternoon, and after multiple frustrating stops that delayed their flight time (“ _you should have gone to the toilet before we left_!”), Outcast Island materialized into view, though the winter fog made it easier to hide but harder to see. The riders settled down in a small clearing by the banks of a frozen lake, not far from the nearest Outcast base.

      “Stick together, keep quiet, do not be seen, and do _not_ initiate battle. Got it?” Astrid told them firmly. Everyone nodded. “Any questions?”

      She glanced around until her eyes landed on a hand raised in the air.

      “Yeah, can I use the bathroom before we go?” Tuffnut asked.

      Astrid’s eye twitched in annoyance, mentally deciding to leave the twins behind next time they go on a mission. She narrowed her eyes, speaking slowly, “almost all of those stops were for you and Ruffnut, how in Thor’s name do you still need to go?”

      For once Tuffnut caught the anger in her voice and decided against pushing her temper, muttering a “never mind” as he crossed his arms.

      “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

      Hiccup was already getting tired and restless and it was only day two. Dust settled neatly layered around him, barely being disturbed. His only visits were the three main meals of the day and every now and then the guards changed shifts. Besides that, no acknowledgement for Hiccup. He didn’t even see Alvin since they’re first short exchange of words.

      Between naps to pass the time, he spent some of the hours pondering on Alvin’s words and a separate hour thinking _I would’ve had a great birthday yesterday but naturally all things are ruined somehow_. He’d been spending most of today drawing in the dust, his finger tracing random shapes against the cold stone.

      _New source. Inevitable failure. Brand new plan._

      Hiccup really hoped his captor was just bluffing to make himself look tough and successful and to sink Hiccup’s hopes of being rescued or getting himself out unscathed. That sounded more like Alvin the Treacherous. Unfortunately Hiccup realized that Alvin might not be trying to _be_ Alvin. Perhaps he took into account the amount of times his plans actually succeeded: Null.

      Toothless was also on his mind. Had Alvin actually captured him too, or did he just go along with Hiccups question to use against him? Usually in these unfortunately usual situations, his best friend manages to escape and either find help or Hiccup and bust themselves out of there. Hours and hours and _hours_ had passed and Hiccup was more worried for his dragon than he was for himself.

      He hadn’t even thought about actually getting up and attempting an escape. He had this feeling that he was just not going to succeed this early. That he shouldn’t leave yet. A very untypical Hiccup thing to do.

      Footsteps stomped nearby outside his cell and came to a stop. Hiccup watched the guard standing at attention, shoulders back and head up straight. He wore the usual Outcast thuggish expression and a matching outfit to go with the ugly, except this guy seemed to have a few extra decorations to his armour.

      Hiccup made the decision to scoot over nearer to the metal barred door and attempt to spark up a conversation with his sentry, maybe gain some insight as to why in the name of Odin’s missing eyeball he was even here.

      “So, uh, how’s the weather on Outcast Island these days. It’s been pretty cold down here, but I haven’t gotten out much lately…” _Nailed it_.

      As mostly expected, the Outcast ignored him, keeping his eyes looking forward at the blank grey wall. Hiccup blew out a breath, _tough crowd_. “Those clay beads look very flattering on you, did you paint them yourself?” He feigned admiration, gesturing to the guy’s helmet and belt.

      _Bingo_. The guard looked up at Hiccup, a pleased look growing on his face underneath his bedazzled helmet. Hiccup took this as a sign to keep sweet-talking him in hopes that he’d unintentionally drop some information. “Blue is definitely your colour. Could you direct me to the nearest ceramics workshop?”

      “Oh sure, yeah, you just leave this prison and then once you’re out, take a left into the wooded area and you’ll find a little shack.”

      “Great, great, I’ll be sure to stop by next time I take a stroll on Outcast Island.” Hiccup nodded. Truthfully, that wasn’t going to be joining his to-do list any time soon. “So who’s the new guy? Alvin makes him sound pretty important…”

      And cue the guard’s hesitation. Hiccup sat quietly and stared at him in anticipation.

      “I’m not permitted to tell you that information.” He replied in a low voice, as if he’d get in trouble for even telling him _that_. _Ridiculous_.

      “Oh come on, does it look like I’m going anywhere? We might as well pass the time with some friendly talk. It’ll be our little secret.” Hiccup pushed, flashing a convincing smile.

      A few seconds passed before the guard looked like he’d just finished having an inner battle with himself. “Some young, good looking guy, bit taller than you. Prefers to live by himself in the woods and hunt, always with a bow and arrows. What was his name?” He paused to think, scratching his chin under his helmet thoughtfully, “oh, Ivor the Huntsman. Shady guy that one, but he’s clever.” There was almost a hint of uneasiness in his voice which Hiccup didn’t like.

      “Do I get to meet him or is that another thing I don’t get to know for some reason?”

      “You’d have to ask Alvin that… Actually don’t, pretend I said absolutely nothing.”

      “Great, thanks, will do.”

      Hiccup took the next few moments of silence as a signal that the conversation was over and shuffled back over under the window, the only place that blocked the draft of freezing cold air, and pulled his knees up to his chest for warmth.

      _Ivor the Huntsman_ … the name sounded familiar. Reminded him of a not-so-mythical myth his dad told him years ago.

      Hiccup noticed how empty of light the room had become as the sun sank behind the hills to rest. The stress of the past two days was starting to catch up to him, and he decided that now was probably as good a time as ever to try and get an actual couple hours of sleep in instead of short naps that did nothing but make him feel worse.

      Deciding not to dwell on the new information for now, he lied onto his back with his arm under his head as a makeshift pillow and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly despite how uncomfortable and how shakingly cold he was. His sleep was hastily disturbed soon after to the alarmed roar of a Night Fury.

* * *

 

      “By the Rotting Socks of Thor, how many times did we tell you? Whose dragon was that?” Astrid demanded angrily.

      “Uh, Astrid, that wasn’t any of us… If I’m correct, that was a Night Fury.” Fishlegs stated nervously.

      “Toothless.” She breathed out, her eyes widening. “But which direction?”

      “I think it came from Alvin’s training arena,” Snotlout offered, surprisingly.

      “Let’s check it out.”

      Sneaking around an Outcast base with three large heavy-footed reptiles that left footprints in the snow made the situation a little harder. Barf and Belch almost got them all caught because they’d caught the whiff of fresh fish in a passing barrel. The Twins had to take a fish each and lead them back to the group.

      The training arena came into view, except it was much dirtier and covered in old scorch marks from previously captured wild dragons. Instantly Astrid locked eyes on the unmistakeable large black figure of Toothless, snarling in all of his glory at Alvin and another guy beside him. They had their backs in their direction, so she couldn’t make out his face.

      From behind the tree beside her, gesturing to Fishlegs to listen. “What do you think? Should we go in now and get Toothless first, or Hiccup?”

      Fishlegs stared at her in surprise for a moment. She’s asking him on what they should do? He cleared his throat, “uh yeah. Get Toothless first, sounds like a good plan. That way we’d have even more fire power to cover us as we look for Hiccup. You should sneak around while the rest of us cause a distraction.”

      Astrid nodded, grateful for his help. Whilst Fishlegs informed the rest of the group, she made her way down to the entrance of the ring and took out the two Outcasts standing guard. She dragged them out of the way, then waited.      She glanced inside and watched as Alvin started to approach the Night Fury, whom bared his teeth with a low warning snarl.

      “Snotlout, Snotlout, oi oi oi!” Right on time, Snotlout flew above the arena and fired a single shot down below and then out of sight, hitting right in the middle between Toothless and his captors, causing an explosion. Toothless shielded himself, any debris bouncing harmlessly off his wing while the Outcasts got knocked back and dazed in surprise.

      Everything was quiet besides Alvin growling in confusion. Then green gas started to fill the arena, clouding the eyesight of the enemy with noxious fumes. Belch ignited it, causing another eruption of thick smoke. The Twins high-fived as they cheered, gliding over the arena. Meatlug threw down lava-blasts as Outcasts outside of the arena started running to their Chief’s aid, keeping them away. Astrid quickly pulled the large lever and the doors started rolling up, the gears groaning against the rust, but it was going too slow for her liking.

      “Toothless!” She whispered loudly. The dragon angled his head towards the sound of her voice, his cautious expression dropping to something more of joy to see a good familiar face. He bounced over to her, jumping straight over Alvin and knocked him back down just as he’d gotten up. The doors were only just halfway before they suddenly stopped and Astrid’s smile dropped like a weight as a firmly gripped hand clenched down on her right arm and yanked her back from the arena doors. She automatically fought back, punching the arm that was holding her, her attacker releasing her. She stepped back and looked up at them. The hooded figure had somehow snuck out of the arena and caught her by surprise. The shadows of his hood slightly distorted his face, and the dimming sky didn’t help visibility, but she made out most of his features. “Who are you?” She growled.

      “Someone you shouldn’t mess with if you want your friend to live,” he replied with an unsettlingly calm voice, which also gave away how young he sounded. “Leave now with your friends before _someone_ gets hurt…” As if on cue, a chorus of howls went up followed by growling and Astrid realized with a shiver that the Wolves were in the same direction as the other riders.

      “We _will_ be back, whether you like it or not.” She snapped before reluctantly running to the aid of the other teenagers. Stormfly waited amongst them as Fishlegs looked out for the Wolves, their piercing glowing eyes the only indication that they were near.

       “Draw back!” She shouted as she mounted Stormfly. Each of them exchanged confused looks but followed her instructions.

      They took off and Astrid couldn’t stop looking back. Her mind kept picturing Hiccup and Toothless flying safely behind them with that awkward smile on his face like _what were you so worried about?_ But all she saw was smoke billowing up into the sky, twisting like a black tornado, and Toothless’ growls left behind in the arena.

      She suddenly turned around again for the hundredth time to a distinguishable noise, thinking someone had called her name. But when she listened closely she didn’t hear it again. She frowned and turned back to the front again. Stormfly made a small reassuring purr, and Astrid scratched her neck lightly with a small forced smile.

      “What happened? We had that!” Snotlout demanded, disappointment written all over his face.

      Fishlegs flew up beside her, asking her the same question, save for Snotlout’s second comment.

      “We wouldn’t have won that, not the way I saw it. There’s some new guy under Alvin’s forces, and I know exactly who he is.” She sighed and shook her head. “We at least now know that they do have Hiccup and Toothless, but we have to be much, much more careful from now on. We need to get back to Berk and rethink a completely new plan.”

       Everyone nodded silently.

       “What did he say?” Ruffnut asked, caution in her voice.

       “That we needed to leave if we wanted Hiccup to live.”

       No one said anything else. The ride home was quiet and uncomfortable.

* * *

 

       The only thing he could’ve done was sit and listen. The guard bolted to help once the first shot was fired. He immediately knew it was Toothless he’d heard, whether he was half-asleep or not.

       A familiar voice shouted the Jorgenson chant, and Hiccup couldn’t help but smile.

       He stood up quickly and peered out of the window. He couldn’t see much in the dark but he could make out dark figures moving around in the sky and figured it was the riders. The moon shining down on the white snow reflected upwards and made it a little easier this time of the year. For the first time in two days, Hiccup started looking around for an escape. But his search went unsuccessful.

       He froze when the wolves cried. Why was he hearing a pack of wolves? He looked outside again, saw a short figure run from the arena and disappear into the woods. He was tempted to shout, to get the riders attention but he didn’t know whether they’d hear him or not. Quickly, one by one, large shadows lifted into the sky and drifted into the North-East; towards Berk. He counted four figures.

      His spirits sunk. Were they leaving?

      “No no no,” he muttered. He took a deep breath and called Astrid’s name once, as loud as he could. He watched as they kept flying, no one had heard him.

       The noise died once they were gone. The smoke stuck around in the air long after the fires were put out. The only thing Hiccup could hear was Alvin’s mad laughter echoing though the atmosphere, his words bouncing off every wall, _“that was too easy!”_ As he’d predicted: those who tried to rescue, failed.

* * *

 

      No matter how much Astrid tossed and turned, she got no sleep that night. Her mind continued to replay scenes of earlier; her meeting with Ivor the Huntsman, the howling Wolves, the mistaken echo of her name being called.

      Alvin was going down. For bringing such a devious, sickeningly creative man into his plans, for kidnapping Hiccup and Toothless. Both Alvin and Ivor were going down, she didn’t care how resourceful, how dangerous the Huntsman was.

      His voice was unshakeable from her mind. It was smooth and dangerously friendly, but stern, tactful and always carrying something in his tone to intentionally make people feel uneasy towards him. She’d heard all about him growing up, of course. But to actually meet him in person, and in such a situation…

       _What did Alvin want with him?_ She knew the answer to that, and it was in no way good. _What plan did he have up his sleeve?_

       Instead of pointlessly trying to sleep, Astrid gave up and began forming together a new plan, something to counter-attack everything she knew about Ivor…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That slap in the face is still available, send a virtual slap on my Tumblr Particlesofanxiety or my insta @koganekstyx
> 
> This chapter gave me a headache trying to copy and paste from word doc fml. I pasted it and suddenly EVERY SINGLE PARAGRAPH SPACE WAS GONE and the whole thing looked like a long ass paragraph from The Odyssey.
> 
> Any mistakes (not me) that you catch, chuck us a comment and I'll fix that up :)


	3. A Step Back And A Step Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a day late. Some shiz has been going down in my family and we actually had a 'family meeting' yesterday which was a first. Surprisingly, it went well. It ended in laughter and that was my fault because I can't cope in serious moments and had to lighten the mood. 
> 
> A note- I have no idea why the first chapter end notes are showing up at the end of chapter 2. It's showing that on my screens, I don't know if it is for you guys, but I just wanted to acknowledge that. I'm still navigating Archive lol

“We have to tell Stoick.”

      “No, Fishlegs, we can’t. If we tell him then he’ll see red and go after him without a plan. We need to be smart about this.” Astrid replied.

      “But if we don’t tell him then he’ll get even more worried. It’s been three days, Astrid.” Fishlegs crossed his arms. He wasn’t usually one to argue with Astrid. He was generally always on the same page as her and always trusted her judgement. But after last night’s events and not getting much sleep afterwards, he just thought that they shouldn’t handle this all on their own. What if something happens to Hiccup, or to one of them if they go back, then they’ll have to explain to the Chief and he’d be angrier than if he found out that Hiccup was simply kidnapped?

       “I told Stoick that Hiccup went back to Dragon’s Edge to check on things after we got back last night. I ran into him on my back to the house. It’s the best thing to tell him to keep him from worrying too much for a couple more days.” She tossed a piece of chicken leg to Stormfly, who caught it gracefully with a purr of contentment. “Just relax, Fishlegs.”

      Fishlegs nodded in reluctance, but seemed slightly relieved for the time being. He mumbled something about going into the village to find the Twins and flew out of the training arena on Meatlug.

      “But wouldn’t Stoick think that’s odd? I wouldn’t believe it. Who would take off on the day of their birthday just to check some island?” Snotlout continued. He was running a soapy sponge over Hookfang’s neck, scrubbing into the dirty red scales.

      “I don’t know, that does actually sound like Hiccup. Previous years he’s just helped out in the village than rather than celebrate and boast about it being his birthday to everyone. Unlike _some_ people…” Astrid said.

      Snotlout shrugged unapologetically. “Whatever,” he replied, dumping the sponge into a wooden bucket next to his feet. “I just think we should hurry up and get Hiccup and Toothless out of there before _a few days_ gets longer and Stoick see’s through the lie or goes to Dragons Edge himself.”

      “Somebody cares more about their cousin than he lets on,” Astrid said with a smirk, though she was pretty surprised with the eagerness in his tone. Rarely did she hear Snotlout talk positively or respectively about Hiccup, always more challenges of his leadership or jealous remarks towards him. Worry was a new one.

      “I’m just eager to kick Alvin’s butt, _nothing else_ ,” he replied with exasperation and a frown-in-denial.

      “Are you sure?” She pushed, her smile growing wider.

      “Shut up, Astrid.”

      Said Viking shrugged, her smile still knowing as she walked away back over to her dragon. Hookfang let out a sound that grumbled from his throat, almost sounding like a form of laughter directed at his rider, which increased Snotlout’s frown even more. Astrid worried the frown lines were going to become permanent if he kept it up.

      Fishlegs changed the subject on time, running back into the arena with an alarmed look on his face, “we have new pressing matters.”

      “Right,” Astrid nodded, tone and expression back to serious. “Hiccup.”

      “No,” Fishlegs said, surprising Astrid and even pulling a string of slight vexation in her mind at the thought of him putting anything less important in front of Hiccup.

      “What’s more important than…?”

      “Right now, the twins.”

      

* * *

 

 

      Not that he blamed his friends, but Hiccup was, to some small degree, miffed that since the attempted rescue, Alvin had completely reduced the amount of meals he got to one a day. It wasn’t like he actually ate much, mainly only the stale bread, but it was his only way of seeing anyone. Outcasts were understandably not good company, but it was all he had. And now, with only a guard standing at the entrance of the prison and seeing one plate delivered, the cell felt lonelier and colder, and almost suffocating.

      But most of his annoyance was the fact that he had no idea what had happened last night. He asked at one point, but no answer. Were his friends okay? Safe? Why did they leave as abruptly as they came?

      A plan had started forming like new roots in his mind overnight. He needed to get to Toothless somehow and free him. He wasn’t worried about himself at the moment, just his dragon. If it worked, they would both get out. But in case a flaw revealed itself in the middle of the escape, Hiccup needed to at least get word to Berk.

      He ripped of the hem of his pants, big enough to write a small message, small enough to hide. Now all he needed was something to write with…

      No doubt if he asked the answer would be a firm no, Alvin would be told and his plan would be ruined before it was even put into action. There had to be something around on the ground. He looked out of his cell to see no guards in sight. They’d been summoned by Alvin not long ago for reasons he didn’t know.

      Hiccup started searching the cold stone floor, but all there was was a thick layer of dust, his thin blanket generously given by the Outcasts, and the barely touched plate from earlier in the morning.

      He stepped over and peered through the bars. A small black piece of charcoal sat at arm’s length from the cell. His eyes lighting up, Hiccup sat on the ground, shivering slightly at the very cool touch, and stuck his hand through the bars.

      He stretched out his fingers but they were only two centimetres from the charcoal. He sighed and then pushed himself against the bars, his arm going further until his shoulder stopped him and his cheek was pressed against the biting metal. The charcoal now easily slipped between his fingers, and he drew back his arm, rubbing his shoulder slightly at the force of it being pressed against something.

      He smiled at his small victory and shuffled back under the window, laying out the ripped piece of fabric and began to write quickly. He kept looking up warily, the guards could be back any time now.

      When he was done, Hiccup tucked away the material and charcoal under the belt across his chest on his leather suit. The thud of heavy footsteps signalled the return of the guards, but as they appeared, so too did Alvin for the first time in days.

      Without a word, just a stern look from Alvin, one guard unlocked the door and Hiccup stood up carefully. The Outcast pulled his hands behind his back, Hiccup biting back a wince at the harshness of the movement, and steered him out.

       Hiccup glanced at Alvin as they started walking out of the prison. Well, walking was an understatement. _Pushing_ was a better term in Hiccup’s situation. “So where’re we off to, Alvin?” He asked half-heartedly.

       “Take a wild guess,” Alvin smiled smugly. Oh, Hiccup hated that smile. He looked more confident than usual, like something was different.

       Soon Hiccup quickly realized it wasn’t a hard guess. In fact, he should have seen it coming.

 

* * *

 

      “No one will know it was us!” Ruffnut yelled triumphantly as she and her twin brother ran from the docks, a thick cloud of smoke billowing up from one of the boats.

      They ducked and hid behind a parked cart full of weapons as a group of surprised, frantic and angry Viking’s rushed down the board walk to put out the fire. Chuckling quietly the two ran up into the plaza once the coast was clear, but were suddenly greeted with another one, standing angrily in front of them with her arms crossed.

      “ _What_ are you two mutton-heads doing?” Astrid demanded, a ‘choose-your-words-carefully’ glare on her face.

      The Twins did not get the memo.

      “Running free, and running like Lo-ki,” they both said in singsong, though it was so _so_ out of tune, and waved their hands in the air for dramatic effect. Astrid tried not to cringe.

      “It’s not even Loki day! You were supposed to meet with everyone else in the academy! Do you even care about-“

      “Care about what?” Stoick interrupted, standing behind Astrid with his hands on his hips. No doubt he was there for the still roaring fire.

      Astrid spun around to face the chief, thinking quickly on her feet, “how dirty their dragon is!” She glanced around and calmed her voice, realizing it had been raised high enough to attract the eyes of some surrounding Vikings. She took a deep breath. “Sorry, Chief. I was just trying to tell them they need to take better care of Barf and Belch.”

      Stoick nodded, pulling his lips into a thin line underneath his fiery red beard. “That’s quite alright, Astrid.” He glanced at the Twins, narrowing his eyes at them in suspicion, “I don’t suppose either of you know what, or who, caused the explosion down on the docks?”

      The Twins shook their heads a little too quickly for the Chief’s liking. Fine, if they wanted to play it like that even though Stoick has several witnesses. There was only one thing to do. “Alright then. I want you three, Snotlout and Fishlegs to help fix the boat and dock tomorrow. We need it done by the end of the day, Trader Johann is arriving and we don’t want anyone falling through the holes in the board walk.

      “We can’t, we’ve gotta go save-“ Ruffnut started, but Astrid punched her arm and spoke over her before she spilled out anything else. “-save the harvest from an incoming snowstorm, but that can wait, of course. We’ll be there, Chief. Sorry for the trouble.” She turned to the Twins, clamping her hands down on their shoulders and steered them to the Academy before any more mayhem was caused.

       When Fishlegs and Snotlout found out what they’d done, everyone wanted their turn to punch the Twins. Even the Twins wanted to get in on the fun and punch each other, though not for the same reasons.

      “What were you _thinking_? You’ve just set us back an entire day and night! Who knows what’s happening on Outcast Island.” Fishlegs glared, fuming at their thoughtless stunt.

      “We _weren’t_ thinking. We don’t think.” Ruffnut scoffed.

      “Well you better start thinking before I throw you both off Wild Dragon Cliff,” Snotlout threatened warningly, crossing his arms.

      “As well as setting us back, you’ve only us the rest of today to learn and memorise the new plan, and you almost gave away the fact that Alvin has Hiccup _to his father and the Chief_ ,” Astrid listed.

      With no one happy with the Twins and the atmosphere now set in a serious and determined tone, Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed to have actually listened as Astrid lied out the plan and didn’t mess around as they trained until sundown.

 

* * *

 

      Despite the dire situation, Hiccup smiled widely when Toothless came into view, looking unharmed and relatively okay. The first friendly face he’d seen in three days. He resisted the urge to try and run over to his dragon, because he knew he’ll be stopped at his first step.

      The Outcast arena smelled of ashes and lingering gas of a Zippleback. Scorch marks decorated the walls, half the ground of the arena was charred from the aftermath of his friends. They had created so much damage and Hiccup felt proudness warm his heart. Toothless was restrained, a green dragon-proof shackle locked around his right back leg and one wrapped firmly around his neck. The dragon was certainly not a fan of them as he pulled and tugged to get to his rider. Hiccup gave him a reassuring look, just hoping his plan doesn’t go to Helheim.

      Alvin stood between the pair, a harsh grin plastered on his face which made it look as though a Flightmare had sprayed him. Hiccup glanced behind himself to see how many guards were watching the gate, and to his surprise, only one. To his surprise, yes, but to his hopes, even better.

      “Need a bit of a clean-up in here, don’t you think?” Hiccup said obviously, kicking aside bits of burnt rubble and watching them scatter by the impact.

      That malicious smile still frozen on, Alvin ignored his comment. “I’m gonna say this once, and I’m gonna say it clear: you, boy, are going to train dragons for me,” to which Hiccup rolled his eyes _‘who would’ve guessed?’_ , “and your Night Fury is going to act as my own.”

      Hiccup kept his face calm but his jaw was set tight. No way was he training dragons for the madman, no way was Toothless catering to his every pathetic need. Instead he decided to play with his words. “Didn’t catch that, what did you say?” Hiccup mocked.

      Alvin sighed but repeated, “You will train my dragons, and your dragon will be mine.”

      “Eh… Toothless, did you catch that?” He tilted his head, resisting a smile. The dragon’s throat rumbled agreeably, definitely catching onto _that_.

      Alvin looked annoyed at the lacking of listening these two were giving. He looked as though he was about to repeat himself again, much to Hiccup and Toothless’ amusement, but he finally caught on. He clicked his fingers and before Hiccup could make a fool of him anymore, the fist of the scruffy Viking holding him flew into his gut and Hiccup dropped to his knees with a wince.

      Toothless growled warningly, like he could just bust out of those chains right away and take them all down in a second, _(of course, we don’t underestimate Toothless.)_

  “There are consequences if you don’t, much worse than a little hit. It used to be that if you don’t cooperate, Toothless gets the punishment. Now, we’re turning the tables.”

      I get hurt instead of Toothless. From the way Hiccup was looking at it, he decided this was better than it being the other way around, because then Toothless is safe. Even if that put Hiccup in danger. He still wasn’t doing anything for the Outcast Chief.

      “Well then I guess it’s my unlucky day, because Toothless is doing nothing for you and neither am I.” Hiccup wheezed out firmly. As much as his stomach felt like it was being compressed even after the hit, he did his best to set his voice even and confident. Which was not easy when the wind has been knocked out of you.

      “You’ll soon come to regret that decision,” Alvin replied.

      Hiccup took a few intentional seconds to think. It was now or never, he didn’t know when the next chance would be, if there even would be one.

      “Fine,” he made himself look defeated, “on one condition.”

      “And what’s that?” Alvin asked, intrigued and triumphant. _That_ look wasn’t going to last long.

      “You give me five minutes alone with Toothless right now, and we’ll both cooperate. You know, make sure he’s on the same page.” Hiccup looked him right in the eye, unsmiling.

      Alvin paused. It’s got to be a trick right? Nevertheless, sometimes you need to make negotiations to get what you want, and what harm is five mere minutes compared to a lifetime?

      “Deal,” he complied, and he signalled his men outside, following suit. The large gate began to roll shut with a rusty whine and Hiccup immediately ran to his dragon.

      “Hey, bud,” he smiled, “you mind?” He turned his back to him and held out his bound wrists. Toothless easily tore through the ropes with his claws gently. “Thanks,” Hiccup rubbed his wrists, dulling away the ache of how they dug into his skin. With no more time to waste, he pulled out the ripped fabric and discretely tired it around Toothless’ left front leg.

      Talking lowly to weed away eavesdroppers, Hiccup quickly told Toothless his plan. Toothless was not happy about leaving Hiccup here alone. “I’ll be fine. Just find Astrid,” Hiccup assured as he grabbed a nearby stone and crashed it against the locks. He quickly moved on to removing it from the dragon’s neck. This one proved slightly harder and Hiccup figured he only had about a minute and a half before his time was up, especially when the metal cracking from the rock would have been loud enough to hear.

      Toothless wriggled in an attempt to help, manoeuvring his head and neck in different directions to give his rider a better angle to slide it over and off his head. It finally loosened and fell over his head, dropping onto the concrete with a heavy thud as footsteps told him it’s time.

      Toothless instantly got into protective fight mode. Hiccup quickly knelt at Toothless’ tail, pulling a small thin metal lever with a click. The dragon flexed both his own flesh and blood tail fin and the now self-flyable prosthetic one.

      “Remember what I told you about long distance. Be careful,” Hiccup patted his best friend’s head one last time before readying himself to distract everyone.

      The men yelled in alert at the sight of the unrestrained Night Fury as they entered at the five minute mark. The outcasts charged with slight hesitation, but Hiccup reacted with full determination as he grabbed the chains that previously bound Toothless and stretched them between his hands, swinging the end threateningly at the approaching enemy. Toothless was growling as he crept around the perimeter of the arena, closer to the open gate.

      An Outcast lunged at the Night Fury with a bola in hand. He threw it and would’ve succeeded had Toothless not tripped him up with his tail last minute. The bola fell with wasted energy to the side as Toothless snarled and the Outcast crawled away.

      Hiccup knew he was outnumbered but shouted to Toothless to go now. The dragon droned reluctantly, looking back and forth between his rider and freedom. “Go Toothless!” Hiccup ordered. Toothless looked down at the fabric around his leg. He could still get help, he’d be right back as soon as he could with reinforcements. He would come back for his human.

      Hiccup smiled at him reassuringly just as he was swarmed and pushed onto his knees.

      Toothless whacked another Outcast away as he raced through the exit and through the Outcast village, a few guards in pursuit.

      Hiccup held his breath as his arms were pulled back and wrists bound tighter than before, his skin burning red. He stared defiantly as a furious Alvin stood at the gate of the arena, a dark hooded guy by his side. He held a bow made of silver birch wood, the string of white silk that gleamed in the winter light. An arrow was nocked at the ready.

      With one last glimpse of Toothless’ tail disappearing into the distance and flashing Alvin a confident smile that aggravated and angered the Chief, Hiccup watched the arrow soar with unexpected speed right towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger? 
> 
> If you wanna shout or murder me you know where to find me, [My Tumblr](http://particlesofanxiety.tumblr.com/) or [My Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/koganekstyx/) . Make my migraine worse, you wouldn't.


	4. Repairs And Vertigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is like so short but you're getting a 10 page long one next chapter so that makes up for it.
> 
> I have not uploaded because at the start of the week I had a stack of homework and then I went to see Infinity War and left the cinema in tears. My friend had already seen the movie but she went with me JUST to see me cry, so she got what she wanted lmao. So since I hadn't uploaded within those days, I still had to actually write up this chapter onto my laptop and now I've only just finished.
> 
> Now here it is!
> 
> [I'm just going to add warnings for like the tiniest mention of blood and unwanted hallucinations, and also there's a paragraph that describes the act of hunting but it's not gory or anything, just so you know if you don't like that stuff]

      “I’m still mad at you guys. Don’t you forget it,” Snotlout announced, unprompted, as he hefted a large plank of dark wood onto his shoulder, louring at the Twins.

      Before the Twins could retaliate a reply, Astrid stopped them with one, threat determined word. “Don’t.” Her expression held a lower level of Snotout’s.

      She was working next to the Twins on the main damage on the boat, which was quite large, whilst Snotlout and Fishlegs were assigned to re-planking the docks. Stoick had pulled Astrid aside before they started to explain that he put her with the trouble makers because he knew she could keep them in line. She wasn’t complaining. Much. Getting the more vast damage fixed as soon as possible was the only way they’d be able to leave quicker.

      With the help of the Twins, she lifted a plank into place along the ship and Stormfly shot tail spines to hold it in place. “Good girl,” Astrid praised, petting the dragons snout affectionately as Stormfly squawked happily.

      She stopped and turned at the sound of Fishlegs and Snotlout arguing. _Oh boy._

      “No, Snotlout. The nail doesn’t go there, it goes here.” Fishlegs pointed to a spot in the middle end of the plank.

      “I know another place it could go-“ the plank underneath Snotlout gave way, cutting off his rude remark, and he dropped below the docks, water splashing up in a large wave. A few seconds later and Snotlout remerged, coughing and spluttering as the water had pushed down his throat, and spitting out the remaining water in his mouth like a fountain. Annoyance was written all over his face as he reached up to the edge of the plank and hauled himself up out of the water.

      “And that is why you should put the nails where I tell you,” Fishlegs smirked in amusement.

      “Shut up, Fish-Face.”

      Though funny to see Snotlout make a fool of himself, they needed to keep working. “Guys, come on. Stop messing around,” Astrid told them, briefly pausing to smile.

      They had continued working for another ten minutes before Ruffnut spoke up. “So, who even _is_ this new guy working with you-know-who?” It was asked loud enough for the riders to hear and no other working Vikings around them, and it was obvious that despite her typical attitude towards serious matters, she _understood_ when to rein it in and heed her words in certain settings.

      Astrid paused and glanced around at each of them. Everyone except Fishlegs seemed to have the same question scribed on their faces and she sighed. If Fishlegs knew the story, and she had no doubt in the entire archipelago and beyond that he did, she was making him help tell it. That soft-hearted geek would probably be willingly delighted to anyway.

      “Ivor the Huntsman,” Astrid started quietly. Ruffnut and Tuffnut raised their eyebrows as if to say ‘should we know who that is?’, and Snotlout looked like he vaguely knew about him, saying, “I think I’ve heard of him…” as if to confirm Astrid’s conjecture.

      “He’s the best and well-known hunter in the archipelago. He lives wherever he goes and by his own rules. He sometimes helps other Tribes with gathering food by hunting them with his bow and arrows, and… other things apparently.”

      “Legend has it that his mother was out of her mind, crazy, and offered him to Loki when he was a baby by leaving him in the woods, and that’s how the wolves came into his life. Apparently Loki gifted them to him to raise him into what he is now, and that’s why they’re so different to natural Wolves. I mean, you saw how big they were, right? And how they appeared out of nowhere?” Fishlegs added, ardour dripping from his words.

      “Yeah, they’re pretty awesome. Scary, but _so_ awesome,” Tuffnut grinned, “remind me to pray to Loki for Wolves, sister.”

      “Will do. I will also pray for them,” Ruffnut nodded, sharing his greedy smile.

      “Anyway… With his wolves and his bow, and his experience living in the woods his whole life, he’s dangerous. And the fact that you-know-who is working with him puts Hiccup in even more danger than he already is,” a pang of anxiety struck in Astrid’s gut at just imagining what could be happening on the hostile island.

      “It’s also the reason why we shouldn’t be taking any chances and _wasting time_ ,” Snotlout interjected.

      “Exactly,” Astrid nodded in agreement.

      “Okay but I don’t understand why Ivor would be interested in helping kidnap someone?” Ruffnut asked as she and Tuffnut pulled up a plank of wood and Stormfly pinned it in place.

      “He must be getting payed, I doubt he’d do something like that without getting something out of it for himself?” Astrid muttered slightly, thinking of any possible reasons.

      “Well, I mean, _I_ wouldn’t. That would just be stupid.” Tuffnut shrugged.

      “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? We only need to think of how to distract them while we get Hiccup and Toothless and then go.” Fishlegs said.

      Astrid nodded. For the rest of the day they conversed ideas quietly to come up with a plan as they worked on the boat and docks. The more vast damage had taken longer to fix. By the time they were done, the sun had already begun its descent and the stars had awoke, the full moon filling the village with light in the heavy darkness. Each of the riders had arranged to meet early in the academy to go over the plan once more and then head off for Outcast island.

 

* * *

 

      “Hiccup, Hiccup. Wake up.” A soft voice said, causing him to start out of a feverish, active sleep. He opened his eyes to see a faint Astrid looking down at him, an off-smile on her lips. He blinked a couple times to clear his eyes.

      “Astrid?” He said quietly, hope rising in his chest.

      “Hiccup, we’ve got to go,” she said gently, reaching for his hand. Her skin was ice cold like she’d been submerged in a frozen lake as her hand touched his and he shuddered.

      Hiccup sat up and frowned as a clean cut on his arm stung his nerves. It was red and a small amount of blood had dried over it, but it didn’t feel or look too deep. Deep enough for the sharp edge of an arrow, though.

      “Hiccup,” Astrid repeated in a whisper, drawing back his attention. But when he looked she was gone, no trace that she was even there. Hiccup blinked in confusion and alarm, his eyes frantically searching the cell and outside, and then everything in his sight and mind shifted, giving him vertigo. When it settled, he opened his eyes to find himself in his own bed, in his own house, home.

      His eyes observed the room. _How did I get here_? Everything looked just the same before he left. Nothing was out of place. Except for the eerie, darkened atmosphere.

      He stepped out of the bed shakily, feeling odd all over. He went downstairs to an empty dining room and a crackling fire that spread no warmth to the room at all. He might as well have been burying himself in snow, it was that cold. He called for his dad, receiving no response. In the silence, all he could hear was his own ragged, his rapid heartbeat pounding in his ears, and the creaks and groans of an unfamiliar house. He opened the front door and let in a flood of heat. At first he welcomed it, but then it felt too hot on his pale skin.

      Astrid stood in front of him again. He smiled in relief at a familiar face, but as he looked closer, her eyes were unfocused and lacked the electric blue of her irises. The rest of her reflected it, her skin loss of colour too.

      “Astrid…? Are you okay?” Hiccup stammered nervously. Something was so off with _everything_.

      “You’re not here.” She simply said. Her voice was void of emotion. Hiccup frowned, “what are you talking about? Of course I am, I’m right here…” He reached to her hand to back up his words, but despite the heat flowing into the room, her hand was just as bitingly cold as before.

      “You’re not here.” She repeated.

      The vertigo returned like a slap in the face out of nowhere and he suddenly felt really ill. Then all of a sudden it was like everything came crashing down on him, a wave of ice and fire washing over him. Everything in sight of Berk was crumbling, disintegrating. The house around him shook and started to collapse in on itself. Even Astrid was dissolving in front of him, a disturbing sight.

      “No, no, no, no…” He shouted, and like another slap, he was back on Outcast Island in his cell, shaking and sweating and gasping as his eyes shot open. To top it all off, he turned to his side and threw up what little he had in his stomach, his throat burning.

      “What you’re experiencing?” Came a voice from somewhere nearby, but Hiccup couldn’t bother to look yet. “Is strong hallucinations from the venom of a Triple Stryke tail. It lasts for twenty-four hours, but don’t worry, you’ve still got four hours left.” They continued.

      Hiccup spat out remaining acidic saliva before turning to finally look to his unwelcome guest. The young guy in the hood from earlier sat irritatingly casually against the wall opposite Hiccup’s cell. Ivor, Hiccup recalled. The rest of his story ran over his thoughts before Hiccup finally decided to reply.

      “Nice to finally meet you, too,” Hiccup replied emotionlessly. He sat up slowly and leaned his back against the cold wall, closing his eyes to subdue the lingering nausea. The hallucinations were still fresh in his mind, and they had felt so real that he wondered if he were still in one. Had he actually woken up at all? The last one was so convincing, he could still visualize Berk obliterating around him. The thought gave him anxiety and he opened his eyes to keep the memory at bay.

      “A fine dragon you had there. Never hunted a Night Fury before,” the smirk on his face held a level of deliberateness, as if it were said to get to Hiccup. Unfortunately, it did. He was in no good mood to reply with his usual sarcastic, dry-humour way. “Have you ever been hunting, young Hiccup?” Ivor continued.

      “No, and I don’t plan on it either.” Hiccup replied sternly.

      “That’s too bad. It’s a wonderful thing, you know. To follow and study the very thing you’re about to kill. To watch as your arrow pierces its flesh and digs deep into its body. To feel, to watch, the life die away until it is nothing but a corpse of prize possession. In other words, quite calming.”

      Hiccup stared incredulously, and more specifically, horrified, at the mad man in front of him. He had no words to express how disgusted he was. Instead, to save him from having to form an actual reply, his vision started to flash slightly.

      “What? You have your life devotion and I have mine,” the Huntsman shrugged. Hiccup hated how relaxed the guy was. “Huh… Seems you’re starting to succumb to the hallucinations again, so I’ll leave you to it.”

      As if to fight off the oncoming visions, Hiccup shook his head, his hair falling over his eyes. He didn’t want to go back under. The previous ones were bad enough and felt like they went on for forever, how long will four hours feel like? He did his best to keep his eyes open, maintaining a glare as he watched Ivor stroll out of sight. His thoughts were getting clouded over as the invasive venom finally overpowered his fighting and he slipped back into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaaaah like i said, super short. But the next chapter is like, double this and maybe a bit more. And it'll probably be uploaded either tomorrow or Monday.
> 
> [My Tumblr](http://particlesofanxiety.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [My Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/koganekstyx/)


	5. Fight or Flight, Or Both

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Monday somewhere.

      “Again.”

      “We’ve been over this at least a hundred tiiiiimes.”

      “Again.”

      Snotlout let out a frustrated grumble from his throat, flying back into his position in the air.

      Astrid had forced them all out of bed as soon as the sun had started rising. Now two hours later, the plan had only improved little by little. She’d stayed up late into the night perfecting the plan. First, they would scout the island. They knew where Hiccup would be, they knew they had to keep watch for the Huntsman and his Wolves, who seem to appear out of nowhere. Thanks to the Twins’ stunt yesterday, Astrid had figured out what each of the riders could do. The Twins are obviously the distractions, and she’s allowing them to go crazy with it. Fishlegs had been trying to find out as much as he could about Ivor and his pack to use to their advantage, and he’ll be looking for Toothless too. Snotlout volunteered to deal with Alvin and his men the best way he knew how: running his mouth to his heart’s content and blowing things up with the Twins’ help. Astrid would be sneaking through the chaos to get to Hiccup and get out.

      They went through the process again, Astrid watching everyone’s movement as she performed her own part. After pointing out corrections for another fifteen minutes, Astrid called it quits.

      “Okay, grab what you need, armour up your dragons and let’s get going,” Astrid ordered, stepping over to Stormfly, who eagerly nuzzled her hand.

      A sudden hand on her shoulder made her heart jump two beats ahead, and she turned to meet a hope-determined Fishlegs.

      “We’re going to get him back. You’re plans never fail.” He smiled reassuringly, and Astrid nodded and returned the smile. But a small measure of doubt lingered… There’s a first for everything, right?

      Everybody mounted their dragons and looked to Astrid for the next order. Each dragon had Screaming Death scale armour on them, tightly-knit together on their stomachs to deflect arrows shot from the ground and anything else Alvin throws at them.

      Astrid gave a small nod, “let’s bring Hiccup and Toothless home, for good.”

 

* * *

 

      The sun seared into his skin, burning away the essence of cold seeping through him. The heat warmed his bones until they ached. The sudden cool wind rippled through his hair and over him, washing away the quickly retreating heat until goose-bumps raised on his skin and a chill shiver ran down his spine, and he opened his eyes in time to see his breath flow out of his mouth in a thin fog as he let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

      The end of his hallucinations let his mind clear and his judgement on what was real and what was not, and Hiccup could finally mourn the fact that he wasn’t home. He lied on his back, eyes staring up at the ceiling as he mulled everything over with no energy available. The last four hours, let alone the past twenty-four, had him confused, mentally-strained, and second-guessing absolutely everything. Being in and out of consciousness brought on an unshakeable headache to add to everything he was going through right now. Hunger, thirst, his fevered temperature dripping between freezing cold and boiling hot. He recalled that must have been what he was feeling in the hallucinations. The list just gets longer, and will continue to if he doesn’t get out of there soon.

      He blinked a couple of times to clear the remaining effects of sleep from his eyes and turned his head to see if he was being watched over. With no sentinels in sight, he let his guard down for the first time in days and finally let himself feel vulnerable. He folded his arms over his eyes with a low groan, blinking away the small unwanted tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. _No, we’re not doing this. Not now_. He decided to blame the tears on his headache.

      Hiccup was not one to cry. As leader of the dragon riders and future Chief of Berk, he was expected to be strong and resilient. He couldn’t afford to take a minute to stop and think about himself; as his dad always says: “ _The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few_.” Whenever a tough time, he always, _always_ , thinks first of whoever needs help. He’d always dive in first to help others before thinking about the possible dangers he’s about to put himself through.

      Whenever a tough time, he’d get over something quickly and jump to making new plans. He’d jump back from an ordeal almost instantly.

      But this situation was different, opposite. _He_ was the one who needed help. As far as he knew, and he hoped, that Toothless had gotten away safely and was out of harms reach. He’d freed his dragon, his best friend, before himself. And he would always do that. But what was he supposed to do when there was no one else to save but himself? His dad’s mantra didn’t apply to this.

      Fight back. He sat up slowly, a new fire of determination shining in his eyes.

      Fight back, make as much trouble as he could, even in his sickly state. Alvin or Ivor can physically or mentally torture him all they want, as long as he never gave in. As long as he never helped them, or trained their dragons, or said or did anything that could jeopardize his tribe or anyone else in the Archipelago and beyond. He was taking his father’s mantra to the grave.

 

* * *

 

      “Tyr Island.”

      “That’s where they’re taking him?”

      _No._

      “Yeah, but as far as we know there’s no vegetation so we’d have to make do with fishing for a while. The island is hostile though, so we won’t have to deal with assaults from those pesky dragon riders, and it’s home to Triple Strykes so Ivor will have his supply for venom easily accessed.

      Is that what he’s getting out of this? _Over my dead body._

      “When’s departure?”

      “Tonight. Alvin’s a little on edge because he knows those dragon riders will be back, we just don’t know when. So his idea is that it’ll be harder to spot a sailing boat in the dark.”

       The gruff voices approached with heavy footsteps and Hiccup figured it was no or never to put his newly formed plan with ten minutes of thought put into it, into action.

       He just hoped these Outcasts were daft enough to fall for it.

 --

      As expected, feigning death was not easy when you have a fever that heats your skin like you took a dive in lava. Fortunately, these two Outcasts were so oblivious that they just thought he’d very recently died, and Hiccup thanked the gods to be guarded with two of the dumbest Vikings ever.

      They had unlocked the cell, at this point thinking Hiccup was sound asleep, and tried to nudge him awake. When he didn’t stir (which took an absurd amount of focus), they started to fall into a hushed panic.

      “Oh my gods, he’s dead!” said the one who states the obvious.

      “Alvin is not going to be happy…” _Is he ever happy?_

      There was a pause and for a second Hiccup feared they’d seen through his ruse, but then he had to resist the urge to blow out a relieved breath as they finally broke the silence.

      “…Who’s going to break the news to Alvin?”

      “Don’t look at me!”

      “Well I ain’t doing it and there’s no one else in the room, unless you expect him to just get up and tell Alvin himself like ‘oh hey, I’m dead by the way!’

      _Do not cringe. Do not cringe_. That was the worst impression of himself he’d ever heard, compared to what he’s heard from Snotlout and the Twins, and even Astrid sometimes. _Who’s voice could even go that high?_

      Nevertheless, the other Viking grumbled under his breath and Hiccup felt himself being half-lifted, half-dragged out of the cell, the sound of scraping metal against stone coming from his prosthetic foot. At least it wasn’t his head.

      The slow, rust-causing creak of the cell door closing and clicking shut signalled he was out and semi-free now.

      Hiccup was just waiting for the right moment to make his gran escape, but it was a little hard to do so with your eyes closed. He so badly wanted to fall back into his normal breathing pattern. At this point, with the quick small breaths he was taking and then holding, he was going to out himself soon.

      Which was not a worry anyway, because he chanced a peak at his surroundings to determine if he should take his leave now or wait a bit longer. The two Outcasts stopped and he abruptly shut his eyes, relaxing his face as much as he could.

      “Here’s the plan: We leave him here, go tell another guard and then he’ll go tell Alvin, and hopefully he won’t kill us!”

      To be dealing with a dead body and a murderous Chief, that Outcast was way to cheerful.

      Distancing footsteps and everything going quiet finally let Hiccup open his eyes fully. He bolted upright as soon as he could hear nothing more and shot to his feet, running as fast as he could into the woods like a deer caught in an open field.

      It felt too good to be true, this shouldn’t have been as easy as it was, but he stopped himself any further and jinxing himself. He was not about to let Loki ruin his day.

      His first thing to do now that he was almost completely free was to either find Toothless, or another dragon, and get off this island. Toothless should have made it back to Berk though. Hiccup was glad that he’d forgotten to take off his short-distance tail the night prior to his kidnapping, the night before his birthday-

Oh. _Oh. I’m eighteen…_

      Considering everything that happened, it hadn’t even occurred to him that his birthday had come and gone in a flash since the first day. As much as he was thrilled that he’d lived another year without dying, it wasn’t going to last long if he didn’t get off this island and out of the searing chill of snow everywhere. He was surprised he hadn’t frozen yet. With that thought, he looked around for hiding spots, like a secluded cave, something to block the wind and give him time to think about his new situation.

      Surely the Outcasts would’ve noticed the absence of a seemingly dead teenager (or adult now?)? Hiccup didn’t want to think about how blood-boiling angry Alvin would be right now.

      Pausing behind a tree, his back pressed against the frost trunk, he turned his head. The village wasn’t even in view anymore. He tried to catch his breath as he took in his new surroundings.

      Trees. Snow. More trees. More snow. It was endless, and thick, and for now, Hiccups safe haven. Deciding he was in the clear for the time being, he rested the back of his head against the tree, causing some snow to sprinkle down into his hair. His breaths were returning to normal now but his heart was still beating a mile a minute at the thought of being caught anytime anywhere, and he tried to regulate it, slow it down. All was calm and quiet except for a few birds chirping about their good day and the run of a nearby stream that somehow managed to avoid getting frozen over. It was relaxing. Until there was a crack and a growl and Hiccups eyes snapped open in alarm.

      “Nice doggy…” Hiccup said slowly, his voice low and cautious. A single wolf stood only two meters from him, and it was unnaturally big. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow and Hiccup was glad he wasn’t looking at them in the dark because there was a chance he would’ve frozen fear, not that this situation was any better… It bared its teeth, saliva visibly dripping from its snaring lips as Hiccup held u a hand in defence. As much as he didn’t want to look away for fear of it attacking, he needed a weapon for that exact reason.

      Fortunately a small thick log lay half-buried in the snow just a couple of feet to the right of him. Taking his movements really, really slow, the opposite pace of his heartbeat right now, he knelt down with his hand outstretched, reaching for his only defence. His fingers slipped beneath the snow and he had to ignore the bite of numbing frost as his fingers curled around the log and he brought it back towards him, maintaining eye contact with the beast. Bitter snowflakes littered its matte black coat.

      “You made it this far, why stop now?” Ivor’s taunting voice sounded to his left, and Hiccup wondered how in Thor’s great stale beard does he and his pack just appear out of nowhere?

       Hiccup narrowed his eyes, “just call off your pets and I’ll be on my way then, huh?” Sarcasm was definitely not going to help here, but what the Helheim. If he’s going down, he’s going down his way.

      It pulled a dry laugh from Ivor, and he casually leaned against a tree by the wolf, which was still watching Hiccup with an unsettling hunger in its eyes.

      “So why haven’t you taken me back to Alvin yet?” Hiccup asked, partly curious, partly buying time to think. He glanced to his left and was not really surprised to find two more of his wolves watching him closely. If they were going to attack, what were they waiting for?

      “I like to play with the things I hunt,” Ivor replied, and Hiccups mouth dried.

      “How considerate of you,” Hiccup replied. “Look, I don’t know what Alvin’s guaranteed you or paying you, but why don’t you just take your pets and leave. This is a long-standing feud between Alvin and me, and personally I think this is just cheating bringing in someone else.”

      “Cheating, huh? Says the one who has the big advantage of _riding dragons_.” His tone took on something Hiccup couldn’t yet recognize.

      _Look at me now. Dragon-less!_

      “That is exactly what he wants me for, to train his dragons for his deranged plans. You can’t blame me for wanting to protect my people and everyone else from that mad man. You have no idea of the things he’s done and is capable of,” Hiccup snapped, his grip tightening around the log as the wolves collectively growled at his change in tone.

      “I am perfectly aware of everything Alvin has and will do, and I am quite content with helping pull the information out of you. Did you forget your hallucinations?” Ivor smiled darkly and it sent a shiver down Hiccups spine.

      _Don’t remind me._

      Remnants of them flashed across his mind, the destruction of Berk clear as day, as was everything else. He briefly wondered if they’d ever fade. At this point, it seemed unlikely.

      Before he could respond, Hiccup noticed too late that Ivor’s bow had shifted position from his back to his hands and he tensed. The last he heard before all chaos ensued was Ivor shouting “ _få ham_ ” before the wolves erupted into deep snarling barks that echoed so loudly through the trees that Hiccup felt it vibrate through his chest like a dragon’s roar would.

      And then he was running. Running for his life. One slip up and he was sure that if Ivor wasn’t there, they’d tear him to pieces. His hand was still tightly holding onto the log, and too soon did it become of use because something hidden in the snow snagged his prosthetic and sent him crashing into his side, a sickening crunch under his weight upon impact and his vision blackening around the edges from pain. Something was broken.

      Somehow he’d held onto the log and dizzyingly pulled himself up, brandishing outwards as the wolves almost instantly appeared in a close knit circle around him.

      As one of them lunged, Hiccup put as much force as he could into his arm as he swung at the dog, hitting it directly in the snout.

      Something was _definitely_ broken.

      The numbing cold and pumping adrenaline must have dialled down the pain of having a broken arm because Hiccup was in a lot less pain than he should have been.

      An arrow shot out of nowhere into a tree and gave Hiccup about two seconds to notice the glowing pale blue pouch by the arrow leaking a shiny mist before ducking out of the way as it exploded. The blue mist instead hit one of the wolves as it just leapt at Hiccup, dropping frozen mid-jump.

      “ _Drittsekk_!” Ivor cursed as he approached, another arrow nocked at the ready. Hiccup didn’t want to know what else was on the end of that arrow.

      _Thank you, Loki_ , sarcasm was running his thoughts at this point as he stared down an arrow for the second time, _thank you for catching my jinx._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Norse translations:  
> "Få ham" = "Get him"  
> "Drittsekk" = "asshole" (I didn't want to actually include the word bc I don't know what ages actually read this)
> 
> The only Norse words I know are from reading Magnus Chase and reading Norse Mythology stories so I apologize if these translations are completely off. Blame google translate.
> 
> Next chapter is probably going to be the end of this week - start of next week. Until then!


	6. Dangerous and Stupid Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day later than I said because I got overloaded with Psychology homework... fun times. 
> 
> I just wanted to say... Thank you to everyone who has been reading and following the story this far, it really means a lot. I was anxious about uploading this to the public because it's my first one. But every kudos and even just seeing new hits make me really happy and want to keep going. Thank you!
> 
> We're getting closer to the end, though I still haven't worked out exactly how many more chapters there will be. But roughly I'm going to estimate maybe between 2-3?
> 
> [UPDATE 28/5/18] I'm taking two weeks minimum to write the next chapters. It's a bit hard right now because I have exams coming up and need to study, and I also need to study up to get my Learners drivers licence soon. Sorry that you guys have to wait, it sucks but I can't help it. Until the next chapter :)
> 
> Anyway, I'll let you read on. Enjoy!

Turns out Hiccup found out what was on the end of Ivor’s shimmering arrow.

      It landed directly between his feet, digging deep into the ground beneath the snow and Hiccup’s first thought was _you missed_ before it exploded into a deep blue sparkling mist like the previous arrow and encased around him like a fog, temporarily paralysing his body.

      _Ah. Flightmare Mist._

      Honestly, he decided that if Ivor wanted to take him back to Alvin then this was not the way to go about it, because being awkwardly carried back wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Abandoning his bow to his back, Ivor had to too intimately carry him around the waist and all Hiccup could do was helplessly think _uh, sir, I have a betrothed, would you please remove your hand from my waist?_ His wolves trailed closely behind them and even though Hiccup couldn’t directly see them, he could feel their eyes boring hungrily into him. He decided that at least Ivor didn’t leave him to the wolves like a chew toy.

      Before he knew it, he was back in his cell and the Flightmare mist was wearing off. Unfortunately the pain of a broken arm was returning too as his adrenaline died with the paralysis. No surprise, there were two new sentries guarding his cell now.

      “How’s Alvin doing?” He glanced up at the guards, stretching his left arm from the stiffness of the mist. Their answer of silence pulled a smug smile to his lips. _He’s definitely not happy._

      He turned his focus on his injured arm. This wasn’t the first time having a broken arm; when he was much younger and just as curious and stubborn, he’d wandered off from his dad on a peace meeting with the Meat-Head Tribe. His curiosity to explore caused his ignorance of how many cliffs and hills took residence on the rough terrain. A butterfly of all things had caught his attention, vibrant lilac and blue, and followed it into a particularly deep dip in the hill and stumbled down, losing his balance. He landed much like he did this time, only he took a few rolls down the hill first then. His father was not happy about his absence on such an important meeting but he kept the scolding to a minimum until Hiccup was patched up and they’d sailed home.

      Looking back on it now, Hiccup still didn’t regret following that butterfly. He took it as a learning experience to watch where he was walking, and completely missed his dad’s point that a Chieftain meeting was much more important than a silly insignificant butterfly. Or he just chose to ignore that point. He was a kid after all.

      The thin fabric of the blanket ‘kindly’ given to him on his second night by the hospitable Outcasts ( _definitely a five herring rating_ ), proved to be good for ripping up. He ripped off enough to be able to each around his neck and sit comfortably with his arm in it. He hissed and bit back a couple of choice words as he slipped his right arm into the makeshift sling, waiting a moment for the pulsing pain to die down as it rested gently against his chest.

      He didn’t realize he’d fallen into a light sleep until he was being abruptly woken up, pulled up and shoved out of the cell, the only words to answer his confusion being “it’s time.”

 

* * *

 

      The Twins, it turns out, can be quite serious and helpful when you’ve given them the job to go nuts on a major distraction. Give them a bad task and they’ll almost immediately act up. Give them a task that they are generally scolded and told off for and they will take it so seriously that you wouldn’t even recognize these new people.

      Most of the flight they were very seriously conversing back and forth about their distraction, and both Astrid and Fishlegs shared a concerned look, _are they well?_

      Astrid verbally went over the plan one more time as they neared the outskirts of Outcast Island. Everyone seemed to be on the same page, and even Snotlout wasn’t cracking jokes like usual.

      The woods was the only place secluded enough to hide four large dragons out of sight, and the dimming of the sky as night folded its darkness over the sky was an advantage to them. They waited until they were under the complete guise of darkness to strike, but Astrid went on a quick scouting mission as they waited.

      It was a good thing she did because things were different than a couple days ago on their first rescue mission. Not as many Outcast men were around. The only commotion seemed to be coming from the docks, where Astrid could hear Alvin barking orders easily from a distance. She spotted a couple of men dragging heavy crates onto one of the ships.

      “Do you think they’re all leaving?” Fishlegs asked as they all stood in a tight-knit circle to discuss what Astrid had seen and heard.

      “They’re probably _fleeing_ , I’ll bet. Hiccup’s probably causing havoc for Alvin,” Snotlout snorted with a glimmer of… pride? Since when was Snotlout ever proud of _Hiccup_?

      _There’s definitely something in the water…_

“That’s our boy!” The Twins high-fived in celebration quietly. “Not exactly a boy anymore…” Fishlegs muttered.

      “Never mind that, we need to adjust the plan to fit the new situation. If they’re taking Hiccup on those boats too then we can’t go blowing them up yet. I have an idea, though…” Astrid said slowly.

      They looked at her expectantly and she told them of the new, possibly more dangerous plan.

 

\--

 

      How do you get noticed in a hostile Viking village?

      Walk straight through it!

      You’ll be greeted with the sight of maces and swords pointed at you, giving you the choice of which one you’d like to die by, rusty metal bracelets joined by a short chain between them, and a welcoming leader who’d gladly redirect you to the nearest empty grave.

      Alvin was both happy and wary of Astrid’s sudden surrender. On one hand, a new leverage to control Hiccup after the unfortunate release of the Night Fury. With the chaos that kid has been causing, Alvin was sure that putting this girl in danger would pull him back in line. He was quickly beginning to realize that loyalty was going to be Hiccup Haddocks downfall. On the other hand, there had to be more than just the one dragon rider. They seem to always travel in packs and Alvin was now eager more than ever to get these ships going before everything would be ruined like every other plan of his.

      The young fierce Viking was tied securely to the base of the mast opposite the ship Hiccup was on, to avoid their interaction and planning.

      Everything was almost ready. Crates of weapons, armour, food and other necessary supplies were stacked on one ship, and a bunch of dragon-proof cages lined along the other ship. A variety of dragons took residence in each of the cages, ranging from the common kinds like Deadly Nadders and Gronkles to the more valuable species like Change-Wings and Speed Stingers. At the end of the row of cages sat a cage that looked almost completely empty except for the figure sitting in the corner of it curled up to himself in the cold and looking worse for wear. And Alvin didn’t give a damn as long as he cooperated.

      “Move it, you miserable pieces of shrimp vomit! I’ve seen snails that have moved quicker than you lot!” Alvin snapped loudly, and everyone around him moved considerably faster than a second ago.

      Five more minutes of packing and the boats finally pulled away from the docks, flowing out into the deep with the help of the strong wind and the strong tide, taking Hiccup and Astrid with them into the thick fog of the unknown.

 

* * *

 

      First question: Why?

      Second question: _Why?_

      Why was Astrid Hofferson, Hiccups girlfriend that kicks butt and fights through every situation, sitting quietly and calmly on the ship across from him like nothing was wrong? They were just going for a sail.

      Except something _was_ wrong, and they were being sailed to gods knows where with a dumb-minded murderous Tribe and an even more murderous Chief, and a highly disturbing guy that seems to materialize out of nowhere with a pack of unnaturally large, blood-thirsty wolves.

      Everything was perfect.

      Or at least that’s how Astrid would put things right about now.

      She told the rest of the riders to only start striking at her signal. As of right now, they should be silently skimming the top of the clouds above, concealed until necessary to attack. Astrid’s plan was to signal the riders to create the diversion the Twins are so eager for, get to Hiccup and get him out on Stormfly.

      She was already half way through cutting off the ropes binding her wrists around the mast.

      She saw Hiccup. She’d spotted him as she was being hauled onto the ship, and he looked worse than what she’d pictured. Even from her distance, it was clear how pale and tired he was, and the pain probably coming from his supported arm was etched across his face even though she knew he would never admit he was hurting. And that determined her even more to get to him.

      He wrists sprung loose but she kept them in place until the coasts was clear. She looked back to Hiccup and she couldn’t help but smile mischievously, bringing her index finger to her lips as their eyes locked on each other. She didn’t miss the corners of his mouth upturning as she slowly stood up and took a deep breath, shouting “now!” as loud as she could.

      All heads, Vikings and dragons alike, turned to her as she waited for the response. Nothing happened. For a second, Hiccup feared that whatever her plan was was failing terribly, but as she stood there waiting in still confident determination, only Hiccup and the dragons noticed the all so familiar fog starting flowing over the rails and onto the deck. Hiccup could only just make out the sight of Astrid running up to the side of the other boat and leaping off the edge, disappearing down the side, and Hiccup watched in fear of anticipation for the splash.

      There was no splash, but he could no longer see Astrid either.

 

* * *

     

      Words of warning: Don’t jump off the side of moving boats, because you will most likely get pulled under the moving ship by the current and plunged deep to your death. If it wasn’t for her dagger being driven deep into the wood of the side of the boat, Astrid would have done just that.

      Her hand burned like she was holding onto a rope as she gripped tightly around the handle of the blade, knuckles turning white as she watched the water rush in white and blue specks underneath her dangling feet, processing what she’d just done. She looked up to see how much distance she had from the edge of the boat, which only looked like it’d just take a bit of effort to reach up. She threw up her arm, her muscles aching as she pulled herself up by the dagger to get closer to the edge. Her fingers curled around the ledge and she hauled herself up, tugging out the dagger as she went.

      Astrid toppled over onto the deck and glanced around to make sure no one was pursuing her before her eyes snapped over to Hiccup. She watched the pure terror of thinking she was gone change to complete relief wash over his face, and she couldn’t help but smile.

      “Please do not tell me your whole plan was to just jump off the side of a ship and hope that you didn’t miss?” Hiccup said, but the reprimanding tone was overpowered by his smile, all toothy and eyes shining like his current state or situation was forgotten. Astrid grinned as she knelt down next to him on the other side of the cage, “okay, I won’t tell you.”

      Hiccup replied with a sarcastic “ha ha”, and as much as Astrid wanted to keep his smile glowing and never fade, they had to face the current problems. Her eyes searched each of the other surrounding cages as she tried working her dagger into the lock, “where’s Toothless?”

      Hiccup looked up at her in alarm, “I managed to get him free a couple days ago, after you guys were here. I was hoping he’d be able to get back to Berk because he was wearing the short-distance flight tail. He didn’t make it back?”

      Astrid shook her head, trying to mask her worry, “we never saw him.” She sighed as the dagger was hardly working to open the lock, looking back to Hiccup with a reassuring smile, “he’ll be fine. He probably made it back while we were flying here. If he’s got that tail on, it’ll take a while to go from island to island.”

      Hiccup nodded, mumbling a “yeah” in reply as he looked just a little less worried.

      Astrid eyed his injured arm, changing the subject, “how’d you manage that?”

      Hiccup lifted his head, his fringe falling over his eyes slightly. The corner of his mouth almost turned into a sort of sheepish smirk and she almost had him back again, “almost got away. Played dead and then tried hiding in the woods, but that show-off Huntsman and his wolves caught up.” His expression changed as he spoke, smile spreading naturally. “Of all the dangers I was in, I _tripped_ and landed on my arm. At least Alvin wasn’t happy about the whole thing.”

      Astrid smiled proudly, listening with a mix of awe and worry. He was brave and stupid and she loved him. If he managed to stay alive and keep himself out of trouble for just another couple of minutes, _maybe_ she won’t punch him in the arm for the whole situation. _Maybe_ they could get home and finally celebrate his passing birthday.

      “At least you gave them hell. Let’s give them some more, huh?” She grinned.

      Hiccup’s spirits seemed to have lifted at the humour between them and he didn’t look as worried for Toothless or anything else for now.

      “I can’t open this, I’m going to have to go get the key,” Astrid sighed. She gave his good shoulder a light squeeze through the bars and a reassuring smile, “just hang tight, I’ll be back in a ‘sec.”

     “Either Alvin has it or it’s in his cabin somewhere. Be careful,” Hiccup offered. He was absent-mindedly tapping his index finger on his leg for a reason Astrid couldn’t say, maybe a distraction for his nerves, but what she did know was that she was getting him out of there as soon as possible.

 

* * *

 

      The Twins distraction was going perfectly. Both of the boats were encased in a thick, green fog of Barf’s gas, rendering every Outcasts below sightless. Because they couldn’t ignite it, Astrid’s orders to only do so once her and Hiccup were safely out of the way, each of the riders were finding much joy in surprise-attacking unsuspecting Outcasts, picking them off one by one.

      Snotlout was itching to use firepower, always his go-to weapon, but he was quickly growing fond of this new ‘grab-and-go’ game. Quietly drifting through the fog unseen, and then suddenly scaring the skivvies off of the Outcasts as Hookfang plucks them off the deck and disappears back into the fog, leaving all of the remaining Outcasts paranoid and waving their weapons around aimlessly, was officially going to be Snotlout’s new favourite strategy and game.

      While Snotlout and the Twins were off giving the Outcasts heart attacks, Fishlegs was doing his best to distract Alvin from the rescue happening on the opposite boat. He’d lost sight of Ivor, and as much as he wanted to go make sure that Astrid and Hiccup were okay, keeping at least one main enemy at bay would up their chances of escape.

      Alvin was growing angry at having nothing visible to shoot at and no idea of what was even going, barking orders at his slowly disappearing men to shoot anywhere and everywhere. With the dragons being able to see through the dark and the gas, they were either dodging most of the arrows, or the arrows were harmlessly bouncing off of the Screaming Death armour on the stomachs.

     To add to their game and help keep Alvin’s attention to them, the Twins brilliantly decided to start dropping the men that they grabbed off the boats directly onto Alvin, momentarily pinning him down with each Outcast.

      And to add to the remaining men’s paranoia and even giving Fishlegs and Snotlout an eerie shiver, somewhere in the fog Tuffnut’s very off-key singing could be heard, the words being something about “raining men” echoing all around them so it sounded like his voice was everywhere, and it was slightly terrifying. The Twins really _were_ pulling out all the stops with their distraction.

      Hiccup chuckled lightly as he listened out to Tuffnut’s singing. It was a good distraction to keep his mind from spiralling and starting a train of worried thoughts about Astrid, Toothless, and the whole situation. He didn’t know where Alvin was, and there was definitely no indication of Ivor or his wolves yet, and all he could do was sit helplessly in the corner of a cage as the other riders risked their lives to save him, and _oh for Thor’s sake_ he was letting his mind do what he was trying to avoid.

      _Happy thoughts_. He was going to get out of this. Everyone will return to Berk safely. Toothless will be there waiting for him unscathed and ready to lick his face off, and he’d finally be able to celebrate his overdue birthday with no worry of being hunted by wolves or being shot at with hallucinative arrows. _Easier said than done._

      The gas of the Zippleback had overtaken both of the boats decks, and I was thick enough that you were practically blind in every direction. He never had to deal with being caught in these gas clouds for long periods of time, always brief. The other riders were probably having no trouble going through it without inhaling a ton of it since they could easily fly up above the cloud for fresh air, but not being able to get away from it started to make Hiccup’s chest feel a little tighter.

 

* * *

 

Alvin sure isn’t going to be happy about the mess Astrid made in his cabin. Drawers were open, maps and useless objects were strewn everywhere, making the room look like a tornado just came through. And after all this searching, she still hadn’t found the key. Alvin must have it on him, which was going to make this harder. One last round of making sure the key hadn’t been just knocked to the side confirmed that it _really_ wasn’t in there, she made her way back out of the cabin, back into the fog.

      She whistled Stormfly down from the sky, who was watching everything from above doing the only thing she could for the time being: look out and protect her rider and Hiccup. The dragon dropped onto the deck with a heavy thud, her nails scraping at the deck. She squawked eagerly as Astrid held out her hand and curled it around the short horn on her head, and the dragon launched her up onto her back in one swift movement as she instantly took off into the gas.

      Astrid listened out as Stormfly seemed to be flying in the direction of the riders laughing, Outcasts shouting in fear and surprise, and Tuffnut… singing? She didn’t want to know. As they got closer she could just make out Fishlegs and Meatlug, getting slightly clearer as Stormfly paused next to them.

      “Where’s Alvin?” Astrid asked.

      Fishlegs pointed down with a smirk, “kind of pinned down at the moment…” He and Meatlug seemed energetic and untouched, which told her that they were okay and no one had gotten hit by any arrows yet.

      “He’s got the key, I can’t get Hiccup out!” She shouted over a particularly loud, high-pitched scream of an Outcast from somewhere in the fog followed by a loud splash.

      He thought for a quick moment before his eyes lit up, an idea sparking in his brain, “I have an idea!”

     Astrid raised an eyebrow in anticipation, “and that is?”

     “Ruffnut!”

      Astrid blinked in surprise. “Ruffnut?” Fishlegs nodded enthusiastically as if the one name could fix all their problems. “You’ve lost me, Fishlegs. What is Ruffnut going to do?”

      “Just go get her and then I’ll explain,” he replied, a reassuring look in his eyes, “trust me.”

      Astrid was still skeptical but she and Stormfly continued on flying in the direction of terrible singing.

      The Twins looked like they were having the absolute time of their lives, as if this was a gift specifically from Loki to be carried out with as much nonsense, chaos and mischief, and soon destruction, as possible, even if it killed them.

      Astrid flew up just underneath them as they dropped another Outcast, watching him flail his arms in every direction as he fell before grabbing the Twins attention. “Ruffnut, jump on! I’ve got a job for you.”

      “Say no more!” The female Twin replied with impish glee, standing onto Barf’s saddle and balancing for a second before dropping down onto Stormfly’s back behind Astrid.

      Astrid quickly flew them back to Fishlegs, and he very briefly informed Ruffnut of what she was going to do.


End file.
